Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia

After another great night's sleep and another great breakfast of egg on toast and homemade dumplings, I was ready to see the places I had missed the day before. I hoped that I had time to visit them all. It felt quite a bit colder than it had done the day before. The first place I decided to head to was the Newspaper Museum, which was just across the street from where I was staying. I think I was the first person to enter the museum that day as it was so quiet. I had a look around the different exhibits about newspapers in the different rooms of the building. Since everything was in Chinese, I had to rely on the pictures to know what they were about. The building that the museum was in, was ... read more

The high speed train from Beijing West Station deposited me Pingyao Gucheng Station in the afternoon. The train ride had been fairly comfortable. Upon exiting the station, I walked out to, pretty much, nothing. I was quite surprised as Pingyao is a popular tourist destination and I thought there would be more life. I found the bus stop, right in front of the station, and waited for the 108 bus. There weren't many people waiting for the bus and the taxi touts kept approaching me and offering rides to the Old Town for 30 RMB, which is pretty cheap, but the bus is only 1 RMB. I had to wait about ten minutes in the cold and about another ten minutes on the bus before we headed off to Pingyao proper. The drive wad uneventful and ... read more

We meet our little group and De Kye our guide and head off to our first monastary. Drepung Monastery, once home to 10000 monks and the Dali Lama, it was the seat of central government until the 5th Dali Lama built the Potala Palace. After visits to Drepung Monastery, the Jokhang temple and day 2 the Potala Palace and Sera Monastery, I begin to realise that Buddhism, in its various evocations is Tibetan culture. Day one was a religious celebration and gave us an idea of the sheer numbers of the devoted working their way around vast numbers of tourist groups, as they tried to pay their respects to every diety, Budda, teacher, Dali Lama and give their meagre wealth to the upkeep of monasteries and Monks. Some things that are of interest 7000 year old ... read more

Journée tranquille de touristes dans Pingyao : visite des principaux monuments (temples et maisons officielles), les ramparts de la tour Nord à la tour Sud, déambulations dans les rues de la vieille ville ... On n'est pas seuls mais tout ça est bien agréable ?... read more

Encore un site bouddhique, mais très différent et vraiment exceptionnel Les plus belles salles sont surprenantes et impressionnantes C'est très abîmé mais restauré comme il faut pour qu'on puisse avoir une idée du site il y a 1500 ans... read more